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angelicide's review against another edition
3.0
An alternate title for this book might be, "WTF?"
I rarely have a difficult time following the plot of a book, but I had absolutely no idea what was going on here until at least two-thirds of the way in. I'm glad I finished it because, although I still don't understand everything that happened, some of the concepts I did manage to grasp were mind-blowing.
The author has a real talent for language and dialogue. His writing is, for lack of a better word, beautiful. He has problems, though, in the area of coherent storytelling. Think William Gibson on LSD.
One of my personal pet peeves involves writers failing to trust the reader and telling them too much. With this book, the pendulum definitely swung the other way. If he had been a bit less poetic and focused more on concrete details rather than dreamy, disconnected imagery, this would probably have been one of my favorite books.
I rarely have a difficult time following the plot of a book, but I had absolutely no idea what was going on here until at least two-thirds of the way in. I'm glad I finished it because, although I still don't understand everything that happened, some of the concepts I did manage to grasp were mind-blowing.
The author has a real talent for language and dialogue. His writing is, for lack of a better word, beautiful. He has problems, though, in the area of coherent storytelling. Think William Gibson on LSD.
One of my personal pet peeves involves writers failing to trust the reader and telling them too much. With this book, the pendulum definitely swung the other way. If he had been a bit less poetic and focused more on concrete details rather than dreamy, disconnected imagery, this would probably have been one of my favorite books.
hyponome's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
pedey's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
patfield's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
joosty's review
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
kyledhebert's review against another edition
3.0
Light reads like a hallucination; there are parts that don’t make sense, others that are brilliantly clear, but as it headed towards the finale and began to tie together it’s threads I found myself with a smile on my face.
johnayliff's review
5.0
Yes, it really is as good as the cover quotes would have you believe. So strange and confusing that I wondered how it could possibly come together at the end in a way that made sense but wasn't disappointing, but it manages it superbly.
theaurochs's review
3.0
So this is another of those books where most of my closing thoughts are pretty negative, but the overall experience is so slick, stylish and ultimately enjoyable that I'm willing to forgive it quite a lot.
This really feels like three novellas spliced loosely into a single story right at the very end; they do share a common element but that is so obfuscated and bizarre that it could equally have been separate entities in each story. Other than Ed Chianese's plot, the other two make very little progress at all; they are not much further on at the end of the book than they are at the start.
A lot of the explosive, weird concepts are fun, but I was left with the distinct impression that we were touring them for their own sake, none of them affect the characters in much of a way.
Also, I don't consider myself a prude, but Harrison seems incapable of writing two pages without having someone masturbating. Seriously, there is so much sexual content in this book, I have read erotica with a higher plot/porn ratio. Characters would walk into a room to just find a person masturbating. It was completely devoid of any actual sexual intimacy or emotion, and comes across as pretty feral. This detracts even further from the cool sci-fi stuff that is there in this novel.
Gratuitous, I think is the word.
Probably will read the next one, the universe is tangibly exciting, hopefully there can actually be a story set in it.
This really feels like three novellas spliced loosely into a single story right at the very end; they do share a common element but that is so obfuscated and bizarre that it could equally have been separate entities in each story. Other than Ed Chianese's plot, the other two make very little progress at all; they are not much further on at the end of the book than they are at the start.
A lot of the explosive, weird concepts are fun, but I was left with the distinct impression that we were touring them for their own sake, none of them affect the characters in much of a way.
Also, I don't consider myself a prude, but Harrison seems incapable of writing two pages without having someone masturbating. Seriously, there is so much sexual content in this book, I have read erotica with a higher plot/porn ratio. Characters would walk into a room to just find a person masturbating. It was completely devoid of any actual sexual intimacy or emotion, and comes across as pretty feral. This detracts even further from the cool sci-fi stuff that is there in this novel.
Gratuitous, I think is the word.
Probably will read the next one, the universe is tangibly exciting, hopefully there can actually be a story set in it.
carmiendo's review against another edition
5.0
solid, but I don't understand why it gets quite so much credit